U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan sat in the Devens Grill last Friday listening to two prison officers from the Devens Federal Medical Center describe the plight of the 500 prison employees who are working without pay during the government shutdown. As of Monday, they’d already missed two biweekly paychecks and were beginning a second payless month.
David Martinez, president of Local 0222 of the American Federation of Government Employees, told Trahan the situation was stressful. “Morale has taken a big blow,” he said. Martinez, who went into prison work 20 years ago after serving in the military, said this was his third government shutdown, and it was the roughest because it has gone on the longest.
U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan (center) meets with prison officers Jason Basil (left) and David Martinez, president of Local 0222 of the American Federation of Government Employees, at Devens Grill, Jan. 18. (Courtesy photo)
Jason Basil, the union local’s treasurer, said inmates were fully aware of the situation from seeing the national news on television. Some prisoners, he said, taunted the guards about going without pay.
Martinez said the shutdown has caused few changes to daily routines within the prison. “We have to be professional. We have to be there for each other,” he said. But he noted that maintenance work on the facility was not being done, and training programs in areas such as hostage negotiations and weapons skills had been delayed
With the prison already short-staffed because of a systemwide hiring freeze that began in January 2017, many officers are frequently required to do double shifts. Last weekend’s snowstorm aggravated the staffing shortage, as some prison employees commute from as far as Springfield or even New Hampshire and Rhode Island. According to an email from Martinez, 25 people were required to work double shifts Sunday, while 35 missed work that day because of impassable roads, lack of gas money, illness, or low morale.
Trahan asked the two men how they and their coworkers were coping financially. Martinez said his wife had a job that brought in a smaller income than his, and she regularly paid some of the household expenses. But he said he usually paid the “big-ticket bills” such as the mortgage, and he was no longer able to do so. His creditors, he said, were working with him. But every family is different, he said, and not all his coworkers had reserves they could dip into or a spouse who was employed.
‘Unconscionable’
“It’s unconscionable,” Trahan said of the situation. She said the House of Representatives had taken eight votes aimed at ending the shutdown, passing the same continuing resolution on the federal budget that the Senate had passed unanimously last December. As to how to end the shutdown, Trahan said, “It’s going to take some courage from Senate Republicans.”
Trahan told the union officers, “I’m a union kid. My dad was a union guy.” She said her casework team was up and running and would try to help.
Some help for unpaid federal workers is coming from other sources as well. Loaves & Fishes announced last week that the Devens correctional staff would be able to shop at the food pantry. Donations may be left at the Town Hall lobby, but there is no longer a drop-off at the Harvard Public Safety Building. Open Table in Maynard and other food pantries across the state are also serving furloughed workers. NECN reported the Massachusetts Military Support Foundation is running food pantries at the state’s two Coast Guard bases. (The Coast Guard is the only military branch that is not being paid during the shutdown.) And places as diverse as Roller Kingdom in Hudson, 3D Laser Tag in Tyngsborough, and the Huntington Theatre in Boston are offering free admission to furloughed federal workers with valid IDs.
Other businesses and aid groups are joining the effort as the shutdown continues. According to Gov. Charlie Baker, about 47,000 federal employees in Massachusetts are affected by the shutdown, plus thousands of additional people who work under governmental contracts.
